Dark Paradise
by Miss Harley Quinzel
Summary: Lo Graham never put "Become a zombie" on her bucket list, but now Lo has found she has been thrown into a new underground and paranormal world which she was never aware of. Will it be possible for Lo to grow to accept her new existence or will she start to despise her new life as it reveals itself as a dark paradise with the soon-to-be warring sides.
1. Prologue

Lo Graham paced briskly down the street, pulling her leather jacket closer around her. It was a chilly evening and Lo was eager to get home from the state library which she worked at organising and stocking the archives. Her plain flats made little noise against the brick pavement as she travelled down the empty street, lit only by a few yellow street lights.

"Excuse me Miss," a smooth voice said behind her. She spun quickly, nearly jumping at the sound. The man was blonde and rather tall, with unnervingly dark eyes. She couldn't tell if it was the lighting creating the shadows or if the man appreciated makeup.

"I was wondering if you could point me to the nearest bus stop?" He asked without hesitation, clearly ignoring Lo's initial panic.

"Oh," she unintentionally let out a sigh of relief and turned to point at a spot further down the street before she felt something slowly scratch against her neck, like a metal nail. She froze instantly before the caramel sounding voice whispered a warning not to panic before everything went black.


	2. Soup

Lo woke up feeling groggy on a cold floor, she would have sat up but she felt so unbearably cold. Her eyes slowly flickered around as shapes blurred together then sharpened to form the room. The light flickered slightly as individuals walked in front of the only outside light source.

The door was suddenly heaved open as a rather pale individual Lo could only half recognise walked carrying a steaming bowl. He then proceeded to lean down and tapped her on the forehead gently. He was trying to get Lo to bring herself back into focus. There weren't many like her who he had to catch and turn by force. He turned almost all by force, but he rarely had to catch them. They all flocked to him with one lie after another. Lo's slightly glazed eyes were a rarity because of that; it was inconvenient to wait for the victims of it to wake up and become very intelligible again.

"Rise and shine sleeping beauty," he said as he placed the bowl -which Lo could now tell was soup- next to her. The steam wafted into the cold air, warming the small area around it. Shakily and slowly, she began to sit vertically to hold the bowl in her hands to warm her skin. She couldn't bring myself to eat though. Lo felt like she was going to be sick. She was ravenous, but in her current state she felt that she would probably throw up whatever she managed to bring down and as she didn't know why or how long she was going to be there for, being trapped in a room with vomit did not seem to make her situation more appealing.

Lo's captor - she presumed - seemed awfully relaxed, sitting on a cooler box, which was slightly unnerving for an individual in her situation. Anyone that relaxed had to want something from her, she had no idea what he could possibly want though.

"What's your name?" He asked.

Lo blinked slowly, she seemed unable to hear him properly.

"What's your name?" He repeated. He seemed to expect an answer from her, but Lo hardly knew how to reply.

In her semi-lucid state, she made it to her feet with the bowl of soup still in her hands. Her captor didn't seem at all alarmed until the contents of the bowl was thrown at his face.

The plain white bowl fell to the ground with a horrid sounding clang as Lo stumbled to the door. To her amazement and relief, she found it unlocked. She pushed her way through the crack in the door she created when she heaved it open and stumbled quickly out of the cold.

Her vision began to blur again as she made it into another room, there was too much light for her right now. A face or two crossed her vision as she pushed past but no one seemed to stop her. When Lo found another door she seemed to fall through it onto a street, a passing stranger or two glanced at her while another helped her to her feet.

 _"Are you alright?"_ Lo heard as she adjusted to the blinding light.

"I'm...fine," she mumbled out as she pulled her arm out of their gentle grip and gradually made her way down the street in a mild panic. Not caring which road she took, as long as she got as far away from the pale demons.


	3. Soap

Lo felt like she had been walking for hours when she finally allowed herself to stop walking. Traffic hadn't been kind to her and she had nearly walked into fast flowing traffic multiple times due to her desire and inability to stop moving. She was beginning to feel safe again, her eyes had adjusted to the light and she could recognised where she was, roughly. She wasn't so comfortable being out in the open so she made her way up the street again a short distance and into a shopping mall.

It didn't take her long to decide which shop she should hide in for a while, she chose a large clothing store, she grabbed a large sweater before walking into the change rooms to supposedly try on the jumper. It was then she allowed herself to sink to the floor and finally breathe. Lo hadn't realised her hands were shaking, and honestly she didn't know how long it was since she had left the building, or even what time it was now. She was so confused and utterly terrified. Not to mention starving. The more she thought of her hunger the more she ached to eat, the soup had smelled heavenly and now that she hadn't even tried a bite, it was hours, maybe even days since she ate. Honestly, she couldn't even decipher what she was craving.

A creak startled her out of her thoughts, the change room next to Lo was occupied now.

Lo almost immediately moved without thought, her impulse took over. She quickly laid down on the floor and grabbed the persons ankle and dragged them into her change room. They hit their head sharply on the wall on their way down. The loud music these stores always played masked the sound of her fall. From that point on Lo was too hungry to make any logical decision. It wasn't until nothing remained of her brains that she managed to regain control.

"Oh no. Oh no no no no, what have I done?" Lo whispered to herself in a panic.  
In her change room lay the bloody remains of a late 20 year old woman. However that was only a guess as all her defining facial features were a little...astray. Lo didn't think it would take long before someone came to check out the smell, or the stains on the floor.

Lo felt more guilty by the second as she stripped the messy coat from the woman and took off the shirt that had been protected by the thick fabric of the coat and replaced her own soiled shirt with the borrowed one. Lo replaced the coat on the woman before slipping under the door into the other change room. The woman turned out to be a organised one who carried a bottle of water with her. Lo uncapped it and carelessly washed the blood and...stuff, around her mouth off. As much as she could tell, the change rooms didn't have mirrors here.

"I'd kill for some soap," Lo muttered to herself as she recapped the bottle and prepared to make her quick exit. She felt sickened by what she had done, but she had a plan in the works for what she was going to do, to find out what was wrong with her.

She was going to confront her kidnapper.


	4. Candy

"What have you done to me?"

Lo's soft voice could be barely heard by the woman standing behind the counter at the butchery but the woman understood her none the less.

Lo appeared to be in a daze. Every word she spoke felt heavy, like she was trying to speak with a mouthful of sand. It was effort to get the words out. Lo's eyes barely focused on the room and if anyone was close enough to her, it would have become apparent that her eyes were almost glazed over.

She was preserved candy that was slowly bleaching from the sunlight passing through the window and Lo had no capacity to comprehend or stop what was occurring to her own body.

The woman at the counter had already left Lo alone as she went to inform the boss that his latest find had come crawling back.

Lo did not notice his approach until he could see his own reflection in her unfocused eyes.

Lo blinked, finally, as she reawakened from her dream-like state.

"...and that is where you come in."

"I'm sorry but, what?"

The man sighed in slight aggravation when he realised she missed his entire speech.

"Long story short, I'm Blaine, you're now a zombie, and you're going to be a big help around here which is why you are now...one of us." He spoke to her as if she was a child, as he motioned to the few people leaning against the wall.

Of course there are more of us than just them, but we needed a few smart cookies like _you._ I run a sort off...food delivery service but I need _you_ to expand our market through...eliminating, our competition, so to speak. In return you get free meals and believe me, you're going to want them."

Lo remained quiet throughout his abridged speech, she felt like someone was merely making a practical joke on her but the thought of the woman in the change room made her steady her panic.

 _This was real._

"Are you...going to tell us your name?" The zombie in front of her asked.

"L-" She started to say before her voice choked up, she coughed to clear her through before continuing. "Lo Graham."

Blaine held out his hand, "Welcome to the business Lo Graham."


End file.
